Everyone knows there are lots of amateur and hobbyist photographers out there, and collectively they produce a massive amount of material stored on online photo sharing sites and desktops around the globe which might just contain that one image an advertiser was looking to use to communicate a message.
Adography is a relatively new service that offers a way to monetize your own amateur photos if you think there are some who might make for great advertisement material.
Adography is essentially a marketplace where people can put their amateur photos up for sale, while businesses can put out requests for photos by creating so-called ‘want-ads’. You can find an example of a listing here, which includes the image specifications, asking price, and more. The service is free for people who upload their photos, but we should note the FAQ mentions that Adography is automatically granted an exclusive worldwide license for twelve months for every uploaded picture.
It’s obviously not a novel idea, as there are plenty of web services out there with a similar proposition. Even Yahoo’s Flickr was once considering launching its own marketplace dubbed Flickr Stock. The problem with most of these is, evidently, marketing the service and getting the scale needed to attract enough advertisers and photographers to make it compelling enough for both target groups to come back for more.
Adography faces the same problems, and personally I think the user experience is a bit below par for the moment. That said, the name has a nice ring to it and no clear leader has emerged yet in this space (meaning non stock photography marketplaces) so who knows if this one will fly. Then again, I’m not so sure the advertisers Adography cites as examples (e.g. Coca-Cola) will be interested in low-resolution amateur images for their official branding campaigns. Seems to me small businesses would be more interested in the service, but how do you reach them?
Update: as a commentor notes, iStockPhoto is probably the most familiar name in this space, but it’s not really the best place for true amateur photos.
On a sidenote: I love this type of story. Someone has an idea, which lingers in his or her mind until one day this person wakes up and decides to incorporate and try to turn the idea into a business, not even considering anything but bootstrapping to get it started. In this particular case, the founder is documenting this road less traveled by blogging about it, which is a welcome aside for aspiring entrepreneurs who haven’t made the jump yet and want to read someone else’s experiences first.
iStockPhoto already fills this niche beautifully.
ditto. iStockPhoto rocks!
iStockphoto is really amazing. They have a huge collection on prof. images and other stuff for low. I bought their a lot of pictures and vektor grafik files. Their pages are well designed and the process of buying stuff is simple. I love it.
This. iStock IS the clear leader in the rights-free stock photo market. Adography might have a good idea in the want ads, but they are climbing a steep hill to compete in the stock photo market. I would say that any photo not good enough for iStock–where most photos sell for $1–probably would not sell at all, anywhere.
Very ordinary.
I tried to sign up to see how it works and I had to fill a long amazon payment business account process. Big turn off!
I see the problem, amateur photographers asking pro pricing, $200
http://www.adog...m/photo/show/38
For this photo is my first impression microstock sells for $1 to $5 per image.
This rate is kind of high and to have amateurs price there images the service will fail.
I didn’t look any further as this just scared me off.
We purchase/download about 25 photo’s per day for our websites. shutterstock is our choice.
It needs to be like ebay, stuff starts at $1.
Interesting. Might keep an eye on the want-ads for a bit.
Would never upload my photos to them though. As you say, there are plenty of more established sites out there for that. I have actually had the most success by posting my images on my own website (http://www.burrard-lucas.com) and relying on SEO to bring the buyers to me.
The main problem is that the expectations among the two parties (photographers and buyers) are often different. Some Amateur photographers think that they will become rich by selling some pictures while some buyers think that they can get pictures for almost free. I feel that there should be a service that would cater more local needs. For example, a person living in China should be connected to a buyer who is looking for a picture of that area.
For local needs, please take a look at http://www.JotPix.com.
It connects people across the globe, and allows them to get pictures and videos in a cost-effective and timely manner. Buyer starts by pinpointing a place on a satellite map. Sellers live nearby get notified and enter their bids. Buyer accept a bid based on sellers’ rating, offering price, sample photos and videos, etc.
Very interesting. I would try it out for my photos. Are any kind of photos acceptable?
A nich Post you have here. But how many people are using Adography. The Internet should get better with these software.
This has got to be worth go. And if you feel that something could be better give them some feedback and see how they respond.
I remember a while back a website that was based around the “want-ads” premiss. Of course, I forgot the name, but I think that website was much more refined than this one.
I think this website has quite a ways to go to become main stream. I think the idea is great but the execution is poor. Oh well.
Adography for Photographers {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/EZeLDijDxC_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Adography for Photographers ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/fe44NWZQmJ”}}}
I couldn’t agree more.
Considering a web ready sized shot is a DOLLAR as istockphoto, I’m not sure why I’d look anywhere less. How much less could you charge to attract me?
I agree with you scott,I need the information as well how much the rate for the amateur photo I will attached to them,if someone could inform me about amateur photo ,is it oke to upload my Polaroid or non digital camera snap shot to sale,and about copyright term,how will they protect my .”low quality artwork with my camera?
Thanks for the writeup, Robin, especially the side note. That is exactly how it transpired from conception to inception.
I just posted an entry to our blog – http://adography.wordpress.com – This might address some of the comments and questions, as it speaks to our company’s focus. We know we have a long road ahead of us, but we are dedicated and enthusiastic.
This website looks HORRIBLE WTF
So I decided to give them a try but have come to hate them a little.
If you upload, they’ll keep it. I tried to delete a photo and received this error: “This photo has been uploaded for less than 1 year and so cannot by destroyed.”
They also go on to say in the FAQ:
“You cannot do anything with that photo until it is taken off of the site. You agree not to sell it to anybody else or to appoint another company to sell it for you. You agree not to publish it on your own website, if you have one, or to upload it to a blog or photo-sharing website. You agree not to print it on a mouse mat or a t-shirt or to send it to a pal. In short, you agree not to publish the photo in any way, shape or form, either directly or indirectly while the photo is on the site.”
Yo Ben,
Better get some better lawyers than the Mickey Mouse ones that you have.
The T&C looks like some 1st yr put it together.
Fail right there.
Wow, what a great idea!
RT
http://www.anonymity.eu.tc
I can’t imagine one will want to make noise about a service looking this bad! Shouldn’t cost more than $100 to get a freelance designer re-do it, as obviously there was none involved so far. And although I believe amateurs should also have a marketplace, there should be some control over the content. A quick look at few ridiculous $50 camera pictures priced at $10 or even $25 makes me feel bad.